


Misunderstandings

by canvasghost



Category: Stardew Valley (Video Game)
Genre: Gen, He's a lovable jerk though, It's cool if you're into that but I'm all aboard the platonic train with these two, Maru is a lesbian though, MaruxPenny is headcannon for me so maybe I'll write a pairing fic for them later, More angsty than intended but it's got a cute ending I promise, Penny is not mentioned here though, Potential trigger for unrequited same-sex love, Seb and Maru really need to talk, Seb needs to be less of an assuming jerk, Some very minor language, Spoiler for Maru 8 heart event, This is not an incest fic, When both siblings like the same person
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 09:16:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,199
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20423543
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canvasghost/pseuds/canvasghost
Summary: When both siblings are crushing on new farmer, Tami, more than one misunderstanding comes to the surface. A sibling bonding fic with a healthy dose of feels.





	Misunderstandings

**Author's Note:**

> I'm fairly new to the world of Stardew Valley and I am absolutely enchanted by it. This fic idea was born as I progressed in my relationship with both Maru and Sebastian. The fic started out much differently/is much longer but I ended up really enjoying the sibling bonding that began to take centre stage. So I took this piece out of it's larger, brain-stormy predecessor, and polished it as a stand-alone.
> 
> *Minor spoilers in next paragraph*
> 
> In game, Maru will start to express how she wishes Sebastian was more of a brother to her, while Sebastian expresses how he thinks Maru's personality is all a charade. This fic is my way of trying to bridge the gap between them. Also, this fic includes spoilers for Maru's 8 heart event, just in case you haven't experienced it yet and would like to be surprised.

### 

“Hey, you’re up early,” Maru greeted as she shuffled into the kitchen. 

Sebastian ignored her. He put the coffee pot back on the warmer just a little too abruptly to be natural and made his way out of the kitchen.

“What the hell, Seb?” Maru grumbled from the door of the fridge. Sebastian ignored her once more, quickly disappearing down the hallway.

On any other morning, Maru would have just let him be. But it wasn’t any other morning, and Sebastian had never been _this_ cold to her before.

“Sebastian!” she called down the hallway. The slam of his bedroom door reverberated up from the basement. 

Maru pinched the bridge of her nose in annoyance. _One-one-thousand, two-one-thousand, three-one-thousand…_ She took a deep breath, steeled her nerves, and left the kitchen. She padded down the hallway of the quiet house, past her father’s empty lab and her mother’s carpentry counter. Demetrius had gone to Zuzu for a conference, and Robin was out helping Tami dig a cellar.

_Tami…_

Maru felt a sting behind her eyes and took another deep breath. 

“I’m coming down!” she warned, making her way down the stairs.

She heard Sebastian slide the lock of his door into place. Her blood boiled. Why was he being so childish?! She knocked on the door irritably.

“Sebastian, let me in!”

He didn’t answer her.

“Sebastian!”

Still no answer.

Maru felt the tears she’d been holding back start to form in her eyes. She hit the door with her palm and let out a quiet whimper.

“Sebastian?” she tried one last time, her voice hitching. “Please?”

The silence continued. Defeated, Maru turned to go back up the stairwell, when a sudden click caught her by surprise. She turned around once more to find Sebastian’s door had opened a crack. 

Gingerly, she opened the door, and slowly entered his bedroom. Sebastian was sitting at his computer, staring at the screen. No light shone upon his face though, and she realized his computer wasn’t on; he was just staring into the blackness.

“Sebastian?” she tried, trying to steady the emotional warble of her voice.

Her brother raised a hand to his face, rubbing his temples.

“What do you want, Maru?” he sighed into his hand, still not looking at her.

“I want to know why you’re being such an asshole,” she said, trying not to flush at the pathetic whine of her own voice. “I had a really rough night last night and the least you could do this morning is treat me like a human being.”

“You had a rough night last night?” Sebastian gawked, finally looking at her. “Oh sure, it must’ve been awful having Tami accept your bouquet and all.”

Maru felt her entire body freeze. Her throat tightened and she felt like the wind had been knocked out of her.

“…what?” she managed to breathe out, staring at her brother in horror.

Sebastian looked away, a flush covering his cheeks. “I was coming back from the train tracks last night and I saw Tami walk by,” he muttered, eyes unreadable. “She was carrying a bouquet.”

“Did she see you?” Maru asked.

“I don’t think so,” Sebastian muttered, still looking away. “She seemed pretty lost in her own little world.”

Maru walked over to his bed and flopped on it abruptly. Sebastian looked towards his sister at the sound. It sounded almost like a collapse, but that didn’t make any---

Maru had begun to cry softly.

“Whoa, what the hell?!” Sebastian said, standing up. He didn’t know what to do. Did he go to her? Did he comfort her? How should he comfort her? Did he say something? What did he say? Suddenly all his self-pity had gone out the window. He hated it when others cried, and as sexist as it felt to think, especially when girls cried.

“Tami rejected me last night,” Maru whispered.

Sebastian felt like he’d been struck by lightning—his feet had melded to the floor, and blood rushed in his ears.

“What?”

“I made…I made a robot,” Maru continued, her words punctuated by hiccups and hitches as her tears began to flow more fiercely. “There was… a latch. It was supposed to open when t-touched in a certain spot, and I’d… I’d put the bouquet inside.”

Sebastian could only watch his sister with wide, confused eyes.

“But the r-robot malf-functioned… it zapped her… b-burnt her, and I was so embarrassed,” Maru continued. “But I d-didn’t want it to ruin the mood. So after I ap-plied the burn cream, I opened the latch m-myself.”

At this, she began to outright sob, huddling into herself on his bed.

“The way she l-looked at me, Sebastian… she didn’t know. She didn’t understand!”

Sebastian’s body moved of it’s own accord. One moment, he was frozen, staring at Maru having her breakdown. The next, he was sitting beside her, fingers twitching just above her shoulder. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d touched his sister, even when passing the salt. What the hell was he supposed to do now?

Maru leaned into him then, and he awkwardly put his arm around her as she continued to sob.

“She didn’t kn-know I was a lesbian,” Maru cried. Sebastian felt the dampness of her face through the fabric on his upper arm. “She d-didn’t even know what the bou-bouquet meant. I started to explain and I didn’t…I didn’t have to t-tell her I’m a lesbian, Seb, just as I was talking—as I told her what the bouquet m-meant—she _looked_ at me.” 

Maru had curled into his side now and Sebastian was utterly at a loss. He uncomfortably rubbed small circles on her back.

“She looked _so sorry_,” Maru bawled, and Sebastian quickened his circle rubs. She continued to cry for a while as Sebastian awkwardly rubbed her in silence, processing her words. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity to the older brother, Maru let out a shuddering breath.

“She… she pitied me, Seb,” Maru whispered. “She said… she said she didn’t mean to lead me on. She said… she didn’t want me throwing out the bouquet. She asked to keep it, as a token of friendship. Our friendship…”

Maru began to cry again. Sebastian felt numb. Last night, when he’d seen Tami walking the mountain path back to her farm, he’d felt like he’d been punched in the gut. The way she held the bouquet so gingerly, he’d thought she was cherishing it. It was hard to make out her face in the dark, but he body language had been so gentle, like she was holding on to something so fragile, so precious…

Or like she was holding on to something she didn’t know what to do with—something she didn’t know what to do with, but still acknowledged as special. That was the kind of person Tami was. She’d realized she was holding Maru’s heart and she didn’t want to break it.

But she had.

“I… don’t really know what to say,” Sebastian started slowly, still rubbing circles into his sister’s back. “I honestly thought you two were a done deal. Perfect Maru and perfect Tami. It just… seemed inevitable to me.”

Maru sat up abruptly at that.

“P-perfect?” she spluttered, wet eyes wide. “What are you talking about?”

Sebastian felt his cheeks heat up as he averted eye contact. “It’s just… always been about you, y’know? People just love you. Mom and Demetrius love you. Everyone loves you, automatically. You’re just… the favourite.”

Perhaps it was a heat-of-the-moment situation, but Sebastian felt his own eyes sting as he spoke. _Shit_, he thought. _I sure as hell am not crying, too._

Maru was silent save for her shuddery breathing for a minute. Then two. And then a slow, low, bitter chuckle began. Sebastian snapped his attention back to her face, shocked by the sound.

“Are you serious?” Maru asked him, and the raw pain in her voice made Sebastian flinch. “Are you actually being serious right now?”

Sebastian shrugged uncomfortably, but he didn’t look away this time. He kept his eyes on his sister. And her eyes were boring into him.

“Sebastian,” Maru sighed his name, and suddenly she was weary. Her eyes were weary, her tone was weary, her face was weary. It was like watching her age ten years in ten seconds. Sebastian felt his discomfort intensify, but still, he did not look away.

“Sebastian,” Maru started again, “I am a mixed race lesbian woman in a tiny, rural town. Do you have any idea how hard I’ve worked to make people love me?”

Sebastian blinked. _Well, shit._ Her words were like a slap across the face.

“I know I’m smart, Sebastian. But I bent over backwards to be smart. I bent over backwards to be something mom and dad could be proud of. I bent over backwards to be someone the town’s folk could not only accept, but also respect. I bent over backwards to _be_ someone in this community,” Maru ranted as her body began to tremble again.

“You?” Maru continued, and Sebastian blinked in surprise. “You just have to wake up before noon and mom is proud of you. You just have to fix dad’s computer once and he’s going on about how smart you are, and how he wishes you’d stop wasting your talents for the next month. You just have to smile at Jodi and she tells everyone within earshot about how she knows deep down you’re such a nice boy.”

Maru’s eyes began to pool with tears once more. She took another deep breath.

“You just have to talk to the gender you’re attracted to and you have a chance with them. I can’t do any of that.”

Maru gave him a watery smile before reaching up to wipe his cheek. Wait, when had he joined in the waterworks? 

“Did you know,” Maru asked quietly, still giving him her sweet, sad smile, “that despite bending over backwards to make people love me, the one I’ve wanted to love me most is you?”

Sebastian sucked in a breath.

“Maru—” he started.

“No, let me finish,” Maru asked, and Sebastian gave a slight nod. “We used to be friends, you and me. We used to play together. You used to be my brother. Now, you’re a stranger.”

Sebastian felt his own throat tighten.

“I’ve missed you,” Maru said quietly. “And as much as it sucks, what happened with Tami, it meant I could talk to you again. Just for a little while. Just like we’re family again. So maybe… maybe what happened isn’t so bad, after all.”

Before Sebastian could think twice, he pulled his sister into a bone-crushing hug.

“I’m so sorry, Maru, I’m so sorry…” he whispered into her hair as a steady stream fell from his eyes. He wasn’t sure what he was apologizing for—for her rejection, for her uphill battle, for his misunderstanding of her, for his distance towards her…

No, he did know what he was apologizing for. He was apologizing for all of it.

“It’s okay,” Maru sniffled against his shoulder, squeezing him back. “Just don’t stuff things up with Tami, okay?”

“Wait, what?” Sebastian pulled away, frowning down at his sister. “You’re giving me emotional whiplash here.”

“She likes you,” Maru said, giving him her sad smile again. “But can you wait, like, a week or two before telling her you like her back? I just need a little time.”

Sebastian stared at Maru, incredulous. 

“Are you really,” he said slowly, “encouraging me to go after the girl who just broke your heart?”

“It’s not her fault she broke my heart,” Maru said with a sigh. “She’s a good person. And you are, too. I care about you both and I…” Maru paused, her voice having wavered a little. She took another deep breath and smiled once more at her brother. “I want you both to be happy. But please, I need some healing time first.” 

Sebastian pulled her into another hug.

“You are a ridiculous creature,” he muttered with a squeeze. “Ridiculous, and incredible.”

“I am the best, after all,” Maru quipped. Sebastian snorted, pushing her off him.

“Okay, hug’s over for that one,” he said with a smirk.

“Fine, be that way,” Maru said with fake-indigence.

They shared a smile, and Maru got off the bed.

“Thanks for talking to me, Seb,” she said softly, heading towards the bedroom door. “It really meant a lot.”

Sebastian nodded before realizing she couldn’t see him. 

“…yeah,” he agreed awkwardly. “It was… nice.”

Maru let out a little hum of acknowledgment as she started out the door.

“Hey, Maru,” Sebastian called out.

She paused in the doorway and turned, raising an eyebrow at her older brother.

“I won’t… I won’t tell Tami until you’re ready, okay?” he hated how quickly he resorted back to his awkward self, but he pushed through his words for Maru. “You tell me when you’re… when you’re ready, and I won’t… I won’t… until then.”

Maru’s eyes were wet again, and she shot him a radiant smile.

“Thank you, Seb,” she whispered before running up the stairs.

“You’re welcome,” Sebsatian responded quietly to his open doorway.


End file.
